Rites
by Maidenstear
Summary: The most surreal part of the end was that it didn't feel like the end at all.  Spoilers for the final duel


Aneko: There's something about endings that I just hate. I guess that's why I always write fanfictions about them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! at all. I love it, but I do not own it.

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><p><strong>Rites<strong>

Maybe the most surreal part about the end was that it didn't feel like the end at all. His mind couldn't comprehend the word _end_. Or maybe it was his heart that didn't want to. Mostly he just decided not to think about it. If he did, he probably wouldn't be able to stop crying. So he pushed it out of his mind as far as he could.

His deck of cards had never felt as heavy as it did now. And it was _his_ deck. It wasn't _theirs. _Just that thought was enough to make his heart constrict. While he couldn't help but be proud of the fact that he was doing this all on his own, it was also lonely. As he chose carefully the cards that he would use, his soul echoed with emptiness while his friend retreated, far, far into the puzzle in order to give him privacy. He didn't want that privacy right now. He wanted to talk to the spirit in the precious few hours they had left together.

His hands shook slightly as he compiled a deck that could defeat the Pharaoh.

No, it was Atem. He had a name now. He was his own person. He was not a spirit who shared a body with him. He was not a ghost doomed to wander the corridors of the Millennium Puzzle.

And…he no longer needed Yugi.

But he wouldn't think about that. He had to listen to his brain this time, not his heart. If he listened to his heart, for even one moment, he would stumble, would fail to do as he promised.

Because he _had_ promised. Before he had known this would have to happen, he had promised a friend that he would help him recover his lost memories.

But that was in a time when things were simpler. An outsider might not have thought from watching that their lives were "simple" at all, but they were. There was nothing but themselves, and their friends, and trying to do their best, not to _be_ the best, but to protect the ones they loved.

He wished the boat ride had lasted longer. It was like the whole world was conspiring against them, trying to hurtle them towards the end. No matter how much he wanted to drag his heels in, he couldn't. He couldn't run away from this.

He wanted his partner to be happy and finally get the rest he deserved so much. He wanted to never say goodbye and to be together forever. The two sides of his mind warred back and forth in an endless loop, so agonizing he could hardly bear it.

Are you prepared for the duel? They asked him.

Of course he was. It had taken him hours to prepare his deck and think of a strategy that he could even hope to stand up against the Pharaoh with. He was certain that he could win.

But he wasn't _ready_. No one asked him if he was ready.

Tea didn't want it to happen. On the middle of the staircase she finally couldn't bear it any more. She cried, begged and pleaded. Why couldn't they just not go through with it and couldn't the Pharaoh just stay with them instead?

He wanted to do the same thing. To beg and plead irrationally for an ending that he knew wouldn't be given to him. He still wanted to hold on forever, but he also knew that if that happened, then Atem faced another few thousand years of wandering, and he didn't want that for his friend. So he decided he would be the one to send him off. He would say goodbye so that the young Pharaoh wouldn't have to.

He had decided long ago that he didn't really like endings in general. They were just too depressing.

A little piece of him went with his darker counterpart when they were split into two separate bodies for the first time and he didn't feel quite right. Cold, off-balanced, like his world had become a funhouse mirror. His soul felt crippled, and he almost cried out for the loss of it all.

A dueling platform had never felt so big and so frightening. He faced the one person who he never thought he would have to face. The one person, in fact, that he _didn't _want to face. Always when they dueled, they dueled _together_. With the Pharaoh beside him, he never had to be afraid of anything. He was never alone, even in the darkest of times, when everyone else around him couldn't be there. _That_ was why he would be the one to duel Atem. Not Joey or Kaiba, but only he himself, the only one who knew him like the back of his hand.

This was the truest test of all.

This was a duel to end all duels.

This was the most painful goodbye.

This was the reckoning of souls.

This was two brothers.

This was the rite of passage.

It was a duel that should have gone down in history as the greatest battle ever fought, and yet almost none were there to see it. There were no cameras or reporters, no grand stadium or screaming crowds. Only two duelists and their closest friends were present to bear witness in the tomb-like chamber.

Ishizu had said that everything had been leading up to this moment, that all the battles they had fought and enemies they had faced were preparation for this last battle. He didn't want to think that. Their time together, those precious memories he had gathered up like jewels, it couldn't have just been for some experience along the way. The laughter and tears and everything in between—they couldn't have just been a means to the end. They had been together, and that was what mattered.

He had never been so afraid to win. Winning meant losing his best friend, his closest confidante.

His soul brother. He wasn't ready for that. But he had promised. A promise he wouldn't break, even though it would break his heart a little to do so.

He had no doubt that he _could_ win. He heard everyone else murmuring nervously, uncertain of the outcome. But he knew he could win, with absolute certainty. He had fought beside the Pharaoh for four years, and he knew his mind almost better than he knew his own. He wasn't nervous at all. Of the things the spirit had taught him, confidence was one of them.

Everything he had learned from Atem, everything Atem had learned from him, you could see it reflected in their eyes. And even though they were not in the same body anymore, he swore he could still hear the young Pharaoh's thoughts as they dueled.

It was, just like everything, over too quickly, and it felt like only moments had passed before he was looking at an opponent waiting to be defeated.

And suddenly, it was too hard. He couldn't hold back the sorrow, and he lost the control he had had over his heart. His brain refused to process any more. Utter silence filled the room, until the one person who could move him to action spoke.

"Go on, Yugi. It's your move."

His words had always had the ability to strengthen him. And he could hear it, the silent request behind the words. _It's time. Please, Yugi. You can do this._

He had made a promise. He didn't break his promises. He breathed in deeply and let it go again.

"Silent magician! Attack his life points directly!"

It felt like he had attacked himself, not someone else, as he fell to his knees, the tears rolling down his face. It was over. He had kept his promise. They had both passed the test.

His brother helped him to his feet, his words soft and encouraging, just like they always were.

He told himself that he would smile. He wasn't able to, but that didn't mean he was unhappy for his dearest friend.

As they sent him off through the eye of Widjat, they saw not a king of games, but a true king, a Pharaoh from the lost sands of Egypt. But first and foremost, he was a friend.

"Like we always say—it's your move!"

Something ended once the door shut behind him, but something also began.

The door shutting was like the empty part of his soul, where the Pharaoh had once resided, was broken off, coming away in pieces. It was a sad feeling, and it made him want to cry a little. He knew that he was strong enough to live without Atem by his side. He didn't _need_ the Pharaoh, but that didn't mean that he didn't _want_ him to be there.

Still, he also felt more free. He was his own person, and despite the tears, he knew that he was going to be alright.

This wasn't the story about a great Pharaoh, but it was a story about a very close friend. And it was also a story about himself, and everyone else around him. The story wasn't over. It was just continuing on into a new chapter.

There aren't happy endings because there aren't _endings_. And someday, he knows he'll see a Pharaoh, a close friend, a soul brother, waiting for him in the light with open arms.

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><p>Aneko: I liked how this went. I hope you did as well. It's kind of funny, I didn't expect it end exactly to end the way it did. But hey, I don't like endings, so I'm not really surprised…<p>

So after I finished watching Yu-Gi-Oh! I got slightly depressed. So I decided to go back and watch Capsule Monsters to cheer me up from my Yami withdrawal…. I felt like I was watching a weird combination of Pokemon and Megaman…that doesn't make for the best of crossovers. Just saying.


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